More victimhood
Thursday, Dec 15, 2022 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From St. Louis Public Radio’s story about a person who runs a Facebook group with 1,400 followers who wants to secede from Illinois…
“We in Podunk, Illinois — southern Illinois — are looked down upon by people in Chicago,” she said. “I’ve just had some really ugly things said to me by people that live in Chicago, and there’s that sense of superiority.”
Apparently, her feelings are hurt. But if you look at that little page, you see stuff like this…
MIKE: "You're not from Chicago, Cook County, the crazy place in Illinois. And there are sane people that live there…"…
Posted by Illinois Separation Referendum on Sunday, December 11, 2022
Everything is projection with these people. I mean, avowed former secessionist Darren Bailey loudly called Chicago a “hell hole” for months on the campaign trail, but you didn’t hear any candidates blasting Downstaters for being inferior.
* Chicago Tribune op-ed by some Eastern Bloc members…
The arrogance and condescension displayed at the recent State Central Committee meeting is illustrative of how far we need to go to unify our party. People who gave their time to knock on doors, attend rallies and put up signs to get Republican candidates elected were treated with disdain when they drove hundreds of miles to attend this meeting and express their points of view. This is unacceptable.
The base of our party is tired of being ignored.
Sixty people were given four hours to vent their rage at that meeting, including people like this…
Also attending were party activists that included a man wearing a Donald Trump dummy on his shoulders, and Peggy Hubbard of Belleville, an internet provocateur who spreads conspiracy theories and who has twice been an unsuccessful GOP primary candidate for the U.S. Senate nomination. […]
“Republicans come in many flavors,” Porter said, prompting a man to reply, “No. One-flavor Republicans,” while a woman yelled, “You guys quashed good candidates.”
They probably should’ve been ignored, but they weren’t.
* Back to the op-ed…
Devoid of evidence or data, they are declaring that conservatives are to blame for the GOP’s losses in November. They claim our party needs fiscally conservative and socially liberal candidates to win, but they forget we have already been down this road. As much as Republicans would like to forget, there was a gubernatorial candidate named Bruce Rauner on the ballot in Illinois in 2018. […]
What Illinois needs is leadership. Politicians who won’t defend their values are uninspiring, and we should not be surprised when they lose elections. The solution is not to abandon Republican values and principles but to defend them. Show the voters how our values and policies translate into more opportunity and a higher quality of life for every citizen. If our leaders don’t defend our values or articulate a vision — why should voters care?
1) Rauner won in 2014 then proceeded to wreck the state government and was clobbered for it in 2018; 2) Bailey didn’t defend their values? Kinda revisionist, don’t you think?
- very old soil - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:12 am:
Now I have a headache
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:13 am:
===Bailey didn’t defend their values===
After Pritzker clearly, pointedly, specifically, and unvarnishedly introduced Bailey *as he was* and *all he stood for*… it was wholly rejected.
Illinois doesn’t want old, angry, white, rural thinking in a statewide race.
The goal is to get more votes, not alienate voters.
- Nick - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:14 am:
The cause cannot fail, only be failed
- Demoralized - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:14 am:
Apparently election after election still have not taught these Eastern Bloc members a thing. Instead of rethinking things their solution is to double down. Hence why Republicans will continue to be in the minority in Illinois government. It’s not that voters don’t care. It’s that they aren’t buying what you are selling. Learn and adjust or be relegated to the nether regions.
- Buford - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:20 am:
Always cheated, never defeated
- TheInvisibleMan - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:24 am:
–treated with disdain when they drove hundreds of miles to attend this meeting and express their points of view. This is unacceptable.–
No matter how terrible your views are, they should never be treated with disdain?
I think I’ve found the problem.
- So_Ill - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:25 am:
“Some people are so far behind in the race that they actually believe they’re leading.”
- StealYourFace - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:29 am:
If that central committee meeting was a reflection of the party post-election, the Illinois GOP is setting itself up for another disaster. They bash Rauner but completely forget the guy was actually elected. You can talk about “defending values” all you want, but unless you get into the office those values will amount to a hill of beans.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:32 am:
This is why the ILGOP is trapped and may more or less permanently lose Cook suburbs and collars (demographics ain’t getting friendlier). There just might not be a place for moderate Republicans in this party anymore. It’s okay to renounce party affiliation and be an independent if there’s distaste for any party.
- ChrisB - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:33 am:
==As much as Republicans would like to forget, there was a gubernatorial candidate named Bruce Rauner on the ballot in Illinois in 2018.==
And Bailey somehow beat Rauner’s record of the race being called after 7 minutes.
They’re really trying to send the 2022 Election down the memory hole, aren’t they?
- Bruce( no not him) - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:35 am:
“They claim our party needs fiscally conservative and socially liberal candidates to win…”
You don’t say?
Who would of thought some kind of middle of the road, crossover candidate was a good idea?
- vern - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:35 am:
===Suburban Republicans are not only losing state elections; they are also losing at the local level. This is a trend that predates Bailey and even Donald Trump. Contrast that with downstate, where we worked hard to flip our counties from reliably blue to ruby red. Perhaps suburban Republicans should be doing more self-reflection on how they have lost the support of their voters over the same time period.===
That line from the op-ed is so funny. How about Miller, Wilhour, Caulkins and Halbrook come knock on doors in the suburbs for awhile? They can meet the voters their party has lost, find out why, and try winning them back. Tell families in some of the best school districts in the nation that “gender ideology” is the problem. Show those dastardly moderates how to flip blue counties like they took credit for downstate.
==What Illinois needs is leadership===
So show some. Come talk to the Illinoisans who decide elections. Or, alternatively, shut up.
- Save Ferris - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:36 am:
“they aren’t buying what you are selling”
The free market party goes for the socialist solution of single product, centrally produced offering.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:47 am:
Rauner (along with Diana Rauner) utterly destroyed the state party apparatus, made the caucuses dependent on large money donors with outwardly hostile agendas to Illinois, and folks like Chairman Tracy openly embraced racist thinkers, conspiracy theorists and insurrection apologists.
It’s not just that I (speaking only for myself) don’t identify with this party, this party as constituted in Illinois sees me, as an individual voter, as what’s wrong with Illinois.
Rauner vs Pritzker in a governing sense, the last Republican governor, by nearly every measure, made Illinois worse off. Pritzker has stabilized Illinois, credit rating up, rainy day fund, bills paid, social services still trying to rebuild… all points Rauner said he’d do, but as a new Florida Man, it’s apparent this party wants to be…
The aggrieved old, angry, white, rural party that can’t fathom their way of life is leaving, their children are leaving, jobs and businesses are leaving, and it must be people “who do not look, sound, worship, or live as we do” to blame.
A more pathetic lot you will not find.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:48 am:
What are their values? They should print them up in a little red book and at every meeting pledge their fealty to the book. Change one comma one word and be denounced and thrown out of the party. They are truly the small tent party. I was once a Republican but I have been left in dust by these fanatics
- Jerry - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:51 am:
The prisons downstate are great jobs. They don’t want them down there anymore?
- PublicServant - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:52 am:
Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying to make things better for us all, including the haters.
- Anyone Remember - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:55 am:
Since their grievances seemingly imprint upon them memories of the days of yore, how long before they dust off Sen. Dirksen’s plan for the Illinois Senate to be “one acre one vote” ??
- fs - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:58 am:
These people and groups have railed against the Republican “establishment” for decades, including many of them who proudly proclaimed that they couldn’t and didn’t vote for Judy Baar Topinka in 2006. Same song, different decade. And yet, it’s not just a worn out argument these days, it’s completely twisted. Because they are, and have been for more than a few years now….the Republican “establishment” they claim to hate.
- Huh? - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:06 am:
“Always cheated, never defeated”
The mantra of tramp and the republican’t party.
- Homebody - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:09 am:
You’d think self-proclaimed farmers would know more about reaping and sowing.
- Rabid - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:10 am:
Do GOP values include right to work?
- Amalia - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:14 am:
My farm family does not like that you feel farmers must be represented as Christian Nationalists.
- MisterJayEm - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:22 am:
And downstate has lost POPULATION over that same time period.
Do they think that suburban Republicans should focus more on driving away their best and brightest young people so that they can mimic their downstate brethren?
Congratulations on your Empire of Dirt, downstate Republicans.
– MrJM
- Orange - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:28 am:
Funny they didn’t want to bring up 2010 midterm (Kirk compared to Brady)… wonder why
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:29 am:
===Remember that the next time you see someone disrespecting her and Chris or any other farm family.===
Following up on Amalia’s point, I am not disrespecting Chris and Mary Miller because they are farmers, but because they are supporters of insurrection. I’d like nothing more than for both of them to join Darren Bailey and go back to farming full time, where they can believe whatever they want. Grow food instead of voting to push their Christianist agenda on the rest of us.
- don the legend - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:30 am:
Love me more of this GOP craziness. Now if they only had someone to defend their strategy here.
Paging LP.
- G'Kar - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:33 am:
==You’d think self-proclaimed farmers would know more about reaping and sowing.==
Perhaps, but they sure do know a lot about spreading manure.
- Lurker - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:37 am:
As a person born and raised in central/southern Illinois and had voted Republican over 90% of the time, I currently believe that not only Chicago should look down upon people like this hurt lady but join me in looking down upon them and their views.
- cermak_rd - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:45 am:
Curious. I live in Berwyn. A very close suburb of Chicago. I don’t think the average Berwynite spends much of his/her time contemplating how much they despise the people of Xenia, or Effingham or anyplace else in the Eastern Block. It’s just not on most people’s radar.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:47 am:
The point of a “true believer” group like this is not to win elections or govern. It is to promote the true beliefs.
- Big Dipper - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:53 am:
Considering their love of guns maybe they mean that their counties are Jack Ruby red.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:55 am:
This is usually attributed to Albert Einstein:
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
- Just Me 2 - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 10:56 am:
The conservatives are right. Moderate Republicans never win. Remember Topinka? She lost the Governor’s race too!
(I’m not including all the other races she won and her legacy because that doesn’t fit my narrative so they don’t count. Don’t tell me what to believe with facts. I’d much rather live in my fantasy world where my feelings are always right.)
- Rudy’s teeth - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:09 am:
When some of the Republican candidates are buffoons and dimwits…
Some folks fell off the tractor one to many times.
- I Love Chicago - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:10 am:
What’s stopping them? Uhaul can help them secede, all they have to do rent it.
- Nick - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:14 am:
The irony remains is that Rauner could have actually been a successful Governor if he weren’t so wedded to… the Republican orthodoxy about unions and pensions.
Balance the books, avoid entanglement on social issues, veto a bunch of spending bills, make airs about ending corruption. It shouldn’t be difficult.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:18 am:
===The irony remains is that Rauner could have actually been a successful Governor===
He ran in order to crush the CTU and Afscammy. If he had been a different person, yes, he could’ve been governor for as long as he wanted. But he wasn’t a different person. He wanted only big wins. So he deliberately ran the state into a ditch and got crushed for it.
- Jocko - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:21 am:
Translation: The ILGOP didn’t lose, just their candidates.
- Cool Papa Bell - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:21 am:
=are looked down upon by people in Chicago=
Please. I travel in both groups. The only people I hear trashing any “group” are those from rural areas (including farmers) that run Chicago into the ground over and over. Never in my time in the city or ‘burbs do people ever say a mean thing about me or where I’m from. NEVER.
I mention to a group that I’m headed to the city for an event or a piece of bad news happens - then the trashing the city, its residents and politics just starts up.
- Nick - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:22 am:
In hindsight it’s probably why Griffin and his ilk were always doomed to failure with their political endeavors.
He never wanted a Charlie Baker or Larry Hogan, he wanted a Scott Walker.
- Rudy’s teeth - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:25 am:
When a Republican candidate for governor denigrates a part of the state for which he hopes to govern…
What did you expect, Homer?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:27 am:
===The only people I hear trashing any “group” are those from rural areas===
This checks out. I grew up in rural Illinois. I have many friends and family who are still in that region (Iroquois/Kankakee counties).
- The Truth - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:36 am:
Projection is the easiest way to understand Republicans these days. Not just in Illinois, but across the country.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 11:47 am:
Watch Lightfoot’s opponents denigrate her handling of Chicago with many of the same problems Republicans identified in their attempt to win the Mayor’s race
- Excitable Boy - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:02 pm:
- This checks out. I grew up in rural Illinois. -
Same, Cass County. I’m in the burbs now but when I used to tell people I moved to Chicago they’d look at me like I was insane.
Meanwhile up in these parts I’ve met people from all over the world and not one of them has had a bad thing to say about the west central Illinois I grew up in. Weird.
- Huh? - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:11 pm:
“Illinois, a nice place to live” for everyone … who isn’t a republican’t. They can’t wait to secede.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:17 pm:
====The only people I hear trashing any “group” are those from rural areas===
This checks out. I grew up in rural Illinois. I have many friends and family who are still in that region (Iroquois/Kankakee counties).=
My experience as well. I moved from the burbs to rural Illinois two decades ago. When people would rip “Chicago”, otherwise known as everything north of I-80, I bit my tongue.
I don’t bite my tongue anymore and that usually brings the conversation to an end, but I got tired of it when Bill Brady was running for governor. He said so many dumb things and I refused to let him get away with it. Now when I go to these same meetings with politicians presenting, I usually get a “talking to” before the meeting starts. I don’t know why they bother, I am going to be me.
- Henry Francis - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:23 pm:
Hate and anger towards people who are different is not a northern IL/Chicago thing. It is actually what fuels the ILGOP (and GOP nationally). That is what fueled their dear Leader’s rise politically.
The folks complaining need to look in the mirror, but it seems they avoid doing so.
- Commissar Gritty - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:27 pm:
Anyone else reminded of the oft-used Simpsons meme that shows Principal Skinner standing under a tree saying, “Am I so out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.” Except in this case Principal Skinner represents less than 10% of the voting populace.
- Inverted Pyramid - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:31 pm:
The BLOC will spend the next two years blaming and targeting the “establishment” GOP (and hard to determine how they define “establishment” after they help elect Trump President and they have been elected to office multiple times on local/state/federal level in their hard Republican areas, but I digress).
Until the BLOC and their followers figure out GOP addition instead of subtraction, they will always only have eight votes for a Leader.
It’s amazing that so-called “establishment” GOP candidates have managed to harness the support of BLOC areas over the years (Thompson through Rauner) yet the BLOCers don’t have a single statewide win on which to hang their hat.
You’ll never win statewide boys, nor make Statehouse inroads, without working with the Republicans who actually prefer to govern over just making soapbox statements.
- Publius - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:44 pm:
Same here. Orginally from a rural area of Illinois now living in the Chicago suburbs. Everyone around here always has nice things to say about Southern Illinois. However when I am back home almost the opposite response.
- DuPage - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:51 pm:
@- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 9:32 am:
===There just might not be a place for moderate Republicans in this party anymore.===
Exactly. For 50 years that I remember, the Republicans had a big tent. There were conservatives, moderates, and liberals, all were Republicans. I thought I was a moderate Republican, but the tent was moved so far to the right, I was no longer welcome in their much smaller tent. Meanwhile the Democrats have moved to the opposite direction, I’m too moderate for most of them. I now think of myself as more of an independent, but in many cases it seems no one is a good choice. It becomes a choice of bad and worse.
- AFSCME Steward - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:56 pm:
“The base of our party is tired of being ignored”
The base of your party wasn’t ignored. It was rejected. Big difference. Everyone heard what you were saying. The response was NO.
- Socially DIstant Watcher - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 12:59 pm:
That Facebook group claims that, “U.S. Constitution Art. 4 Sec. 3 gives citizens the right to form a new state from an existing one.”
when the Art. 4 Sec. 3 says no such thing. Here’s the actual text of Art. 4 Sec. 3:
“New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”
The word “citizen” doesn’t appear at all, and the ability to form new states clearly requires action by both Congress and the legislatures of all states being carved up.
- Huh? - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 2:37 pm:
If the eastern bloc is so upset about being ignored and want to secede, they can set up their own micro nation to rule themselves.
If they need some advice about how to set up their micro nation, I am sure one of the northern Illinois, Chicago area micro nations would be willing to assist them.
https://micronations.wiki/wiki/List_of_micronations_in_Illinois
- Stormsw7706 - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 3:09 pm:
Republicans are victims regardless of locale. Its interesting to see the Golden Horseshoe winners and runner ups. All they do is behave responsibly, govern effectively, and display the courage of their convictions. Not a hard recipe for success. Instead most Republicans seek attention through outlandish words and action, undermine our government institutions, and fail to stand up to bigotry and hate. Kinzinger is the last of a dying breed. I wish him well and hope he continues to speak truth tonpower
- Now What? - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 3:20 pm:
It’s official: the ILGOP has become the answer to the question nobody has asked.
- ste_with a v_en - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 4:08 pm:
Bailey getting less votes than Rauner = Bailey a better GOP candidate? Dumb logic for a dumb editorial from the Eastern Bloc.
- West Side the Best Side - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 4:39 pm:
cermak_rd Berwynites probably spend more time thinking about Riverside and wondering why they went along with Frederick Law Olmsted’s winding roads instead of the city grid everyone else uses.
- 47th and Lake Park - Thursday, Dec 15, 22 @ 8:00 pm:
Sorry, downstate, most people in NE IL don’t have time to hate you. And don’t care enough. Apparently, the converse isn’t true. Too bad.